From
1870 to 1980, Illinois elected its state House of Representatives using
cumulative voting. House districts elected three members each. Rather
than awarding all seats to the plurality winner, the majority party
usually won two seats, and the minority party won one. Cumulative
voting made for a diverse legislature, letting minority groups from
African Americans to Chicago Republicans win some seats.

Now
groups are collecting signatures to put cumulative voting on the ballot
this November. The measure has a history of bipartisan appeal. Sen.
Barack Obama supports cumulative voting, which again would make room in
the legislature for conservative Democrats and urban Republicans.

FairVote's Rob Richie and Paul Fidalgo offer a way to give everyone a say in presidential nominations while retaining the valuable state-by-state evaluation process. This piece also ran in McClatchy's newswire.